Thursday, May 07, 2009

A Sign?



Recently I had the manager of a local burrito joint, that I frequent, tell me that I was the only person they ever saw clean up their table thoroughly.

When I'm finished eating, without fail I throw everything in the trash and I wipe down all the tables and chairs with a wet napkin.

I'll also get onto the floor and sweep up the rice that missed my daughter's mouth so, okay, I may go a little overboard.

But does a sense of basic responsibility in fact make me an alien?

I get scolded by my wife for scraping and stacking plates at waited tables. I figure, why not make it easy for the server/bus-girl? Why have them leaning over and precariously juggling messy plates and whatnot over my head? Plus, I like to have room to put my *elbows on the table*.

And there's something wrong WITH ME?

If I'm at a store and decide against purchasing something....I tote it all the way back to where it belongs.

Meanwhile, my wife (and MIL) just drop it on any shelf or rack and justify their laziness with *we are sustaining jobs* - I kid you not!

What do you do?

And what does this say about me and y'all - and our differences?

6 comments:

panner said...

I know you want 3 per day, but this is what you're blogging on?

Anyway, my mom was a waitress my entire my life. So, therefore, I always bus my table and do what you're talking about. I also over-tip people - people that deserve it.

Whatever.

You gotta come up with more blog topics - this is what you "brainstormed" the other night in bed and claim represents your great creative skills?!!?!? ahahah, i'm just busting balls.

Oh, and wait - the whole thing with NOT LOOKING AT YOUR BROKERAGE ACCOUNT BALANCE???? there's a blog you posted back before the end of the year where you crushed MORONS in MUTUAL FUNDS doing the same thing. I agree with you then. Morons don't check their balance.

FYI, I am also a MORON.

Taylor Conant said...

As a child, I used to become consumed by "racial hatred" anytime I saw some of the local foreigners at Toys R Us riding bikes around the store aimlessly before depositing them down a random, non-bike aisle and walking away. Only seemed to be a certain kind of person that was that irresponsible and lazy...

Now, I am older and wiser and have since witnessed people of all colors, creeds and ages at all manner of stores, picking up items and then deciding against them and leaving them wherever they change their mind.

My hatred, however, has only grown with time. Sometimes I envision large ditches, with bulldozers pushing mounds of...

oh, ahem, uh.... nevermind.

Yeah... couldn't agree more and I do my best to clean up after myself whenever it's not too much trouble.

I noticed someone spilled some chocolate, crackery cookie around here and then someone else (or many people, more likely) stepped on it over and over until it was thoroughly ground into the carpet. That stain will never come out no matter how much they vaccuum, the carpet is permanently damaged there now, it will wear down quicker and look shabby and lead to other careless, subconscious acts. It mystifies me that I was the only one who noticed and avoided it. I suppose if I cared more about this place I would've made the effort to just pick it up myself when I first saw it, and maybe next time I should disregard my own feelings and just do so.

You know, for the "common good."

CaptiousNut said...

A few years ago I was walking behind a well-to-do woman on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights. She was eating an ice cream cone. All of a sudden she decided to throw a napkin on the ground. Now mind you, there are garbage cans on every single corner there.

So I sped up and sneered, "ARE YOU GOING TO PICK THAT UP?"

She went ballistic, asking me if I worked for the *department of sanitation or something*. I could have punched her.

Usually, when someone does something wrong and is called out, they feel instant remorse. But the unapologetic, like this woman and my new dog pooping target, go on the offensive. These are the ones that you know are selfish a$$holes to the core.

When people scramble merchandise on shelves or leave huges messes behind at their tables....I believe it says a whole lot more than *well, they never worked in a retail/restaurant environment*.

It speaks to character.

Anonymous said...

It speaks to the entitlement mentality of this country. Whatever happened to treating others as you would like to be treated...I am not a religious person but I can see clear as day how God fearing people tend to treat others with much more respect. It really is a sad commentary on our decadent society...
Kfell

Taylor Conant said...

KFell,

The Golden Rule promulgated by Jesus in fact predated the prophet by at least 500 years in the person of Chinese philosopher Confucius. And I'm sure other people had the idea even before him.

My point is, it doesn't just take a god-fearing person (at least, not a Christian-god-fearing person). Of course, Confucius was god-fearing...

hmmmm...

That's funny, C. I think I'd do the same thing these days. If I SEE someone do something outrageous, I'm going to call them out on it. Man, don't get me STARTED on these little rascals at the indoor go-carting place last weekend... no shame, no shame.

CaptiousNut said...

Taylor...Marginalizing Jesus....WOW.